Emotion in sport: considering interpersonal regulation strategies

Research into emotion regulation in sport has predominantly focused on intrapersonal regulation of emotion response systems (i.e. subjective experience, cognitions, behaviours or physiological responses). However, researchers in social psychology have suggested that the emotion regulation process is inherently social and interpersonal. This shift represents a significant change in how emotion regulation is conceptualized and, given the intensity of emotions experienced in sport, represents a potentially productive line of enquiry. This review addresses interpersonal emotion regulation in sport, and draws attention to work in social psychology that might inform future sports research. Specifically, the utility of social-functional approaches will be considered.     

Well-being in competitive sports—The feel-good factor? A review of conceptual considerations of well-being

This paper summarizes the topic of well-being as it applies to competitive athletes, with a particular focus on definitional and conceptual issues. Established definitions within research on human happiness and flourishing based on the hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives are contrasted against definitions applied within sport psychology. The majority of the reviewed sport psychology studies either failed to define well-being or used a variety of labels to describe the construct (e.g., subjective well-being, psychological well-being, mental well-being). A large number of assessments have been used to assess well-being among athletes, but most were applied with only a weak theoretical rationale and did not distinguish between well-being at the global and sport levels. It is concluded that well-being studies within sport psychology have been hampered by conceptual ambiguity, which makes it difficult to compare results across studies and generalize findings in order to develop a sound theoretical base of knowledge. Future research needs to more explicitly define the conceptual framework of well-being and the level (global or context-specific) on which the construct is investigated. Toward this goal, an integrated model is presented to provide a conceptual well-being structure in sport studies, and future directions for research are discussed.     

Pay attention! A review of visual attentional expertise in sport

The objective of this paper is to review current literature on visual attentional processes in the area of sport expertise. Based on recent findings in neuroscience, attention can be divided into four distinct sub-processes, all of which differ across individuals to varying extents: orienting attention, selective attention, divided attention, and sustained attention. These four sub-processes serve as a heuristic tool to categorize the presented studies. Then, a critical assessment of the merits and limitations of the discussed studies is provided. Following that, conceptual and methodological issues in the field of attention and sport will be discussed. Finally, new potential directions for further research in the field of attention processes and expertise will be presented with a link to other research topics (e.g., motivation, creativity) and disciplines (e.g., developmental psychology). The overall aim is to show that human movement science can use important insights from other branches of the discipline (e.g., social psychology) in order to test and optimize sports training programs. At the same time, though, it is hoped that the use of ecological and complex settings will, in future, enable further development of theoretical models from other disciplines, like general, or developmental psychology.     

Antecedents of perceived coach autonomy supportive and controlling behaviors: coach psychological need satisfaction and well-being

Within the self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) framework, research has considered the consequences of coaches' autonomy supportive and controlling behaviors on various athlete outcomes (e.g., motivation and performance). The antecedents of such behaviors, however, have received little attention. Coaches (N = 443) from a variety of sports and competitive levels completed a self-report questionnaire to assess their psychological need satisfaction, well-being and perceived interpersonal behaviors toward their athletes. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that coaches' competence and autonomy need satisfaction positively predicted their levels of psychological well-being, as indexed by positive affect and subjective vitality. In turn, coaches' psychological well-being positively predicted their perceived autonomy support toward their athletes, and negatively predicted their perceived controlling behaviors. Overall, the results highlight the importance of coaching contexts that facilitate coaches' psychological need satisfaction and well-being, thereby increasing the likelihood of adaptive coach interpersonal behavior toward athletes.     

运动心理学在竞技体育领域的研究发展与应用

相比于大众锻炼领域和体育教育领域,竞技体育受到了运动心理学的更多关注.一系列运动心理干预技术已在北京奥运会上使用,如心理对策库、生物反馈技术、心理影片和音乐、心理网站,专为运动员做心理测试和迅速调整的多功能服务车等.心理领域的领先技术如电脑电图(EEG),事件相关电位(ERP)和电脑象限图(EEQG)等被用于诊断运动员运动时的心理状态或训练效果.通过对近3年发表在重要国家和国际期刊及会议里相关文章的分析发现,运动动机、运动认知、自我认知、运动情绪和心理技能是近年来运动心理学在竞技体育领域的主要研究方向.积极心理学的兴起有丰富的理论和应用领域,也丰富了近代运动心理学的理论和应用领域.运动心理学在20世纪出现许多新思潮,流畅体验便是其中之一.在竞技运动领域,心理监控与运动实践的联系是最紧密的.心理监控也正在向着系统化与专业化的方向一步步迈进,现代技术如CAS计算机辅助运动技术、Observer行为观察分析软件、FaceReader软件、Virtual-Reality仿真系统(虚拟现实)等已经在训练或比赛中得以应用.建议对已取得的运动心理学研究成果可以在未来实践中得到更多的应用.     

Leveraging spectator emotion: A review and conceptual framework for marketing health behaviors in elite sports

Elite sport provides an exciting and dynamic emotional experience for spectators. Social marketers using sport sponsorship to promote health messages are yet to consider the impact of the temporal emotional sporting context in which health messages are promoted. The authors provide a critical review of the evidence for the influence of emotion on behavior and seek to elucidate the implications for health sponsorship in sport. Articles were identified via electronic database searches and returned-article references, with thirty-three suitable articles included. Drawing on evidence from sport sponsorship, social marketing, advertising, and cause-related marketing, the review highlights few studies have investigated emotion, health communication, and behavior in a sport sponsorship context. The findings indicate that positive (e.g. happiness, compassion) and negative (e.g. fear, guilt) emotions influence intentions and behaviors with the interaction of message framing important when delivering social marketing messages. A conceptual model presents how emotions may influence behavioral health sponsorship outcomes and provides areas of future research to develop best policy and practice when delivering health sponsorship in a sporting context.     

Social physique anxiety experiences in physical activity: a comprehensive synthesis of research studies focused on measurement,theory, and predictors and outcomes

Physical activity (PA) settings such as sport, exercise, and physical education are inherently social and evaluative in nature, with much attention directed at how the body looks and performs. As such, these settings foster a host of positive and negative emotional experiences. Social physique anxiety (SPA) is a commonly studied emotion that emanates from, or motivates, PA behaviors. In this synthesis of the 126 identified research papers focused on SPA and related experiences in sport, exercise, and physical education, we summarize the theoretical roots and measurement of SPA, present research evidence on predictors and outcomes of SPA experiences, explore links between SPA and PA behaviors, and offer insight on the future directions of SPA research. Specifically, researchers in sport and exercise psychology are encouraged to broaden the study of SPA to conduct longitudinal and experimental studies, develop quality intervention strategies aimed at reducing SPA experiences, and expand on the theoretical and operational understandings of SPA experiences across the lifespan.     

Exploring PERMA in spectator sport: Applying positive psychology to examine the individual-level benefits of sport consumption

Sport spectating provides numerous benefits for sport organisations and individuals. In this paper we use a positive psychology approach to examine the individual-level benefits of sport consumption in order to investigate the activation of five domains of well-being: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment (PERMA). Using a two-study panel research design, we collected qualitative data from a sample of Australian Rules Football consumers. In the first study, we explored how the PERMA domains were activated during the season. Study two included a follow-up interview with eight initial respondents in the off-season. We found evidence of four PERMA domains that were activated in the sport spectator context by a variety of consumer experiences. The emergence of these domains in both studies suggests sport marketers would benefit from actions including: creating more social spaces within their stadiums, hosting regular off-season events, and creating social-media based competitions which promote fan engagement and interactions throughout the calendar year.     

体育运动领域情绪研究述评

在对体育运动领域中情绪研究进行归纳和分析后,认为体育运动领域中情绪研究的基本特征是:重消极情绪研究,轻积极情绪研究;重主观评价,轻客观评价;重个体情绪,轻团队情绪;重运动员研究,轻教练员研究。同时,对体育运动领域未来情绪研究进行了展望:积极情绪应作为体育运动领域中消极情绪研究的补充;团队情绪应成为体育社会心理学中的一个重要研究问题;情绪评价应结合现代认知神经科学研究方法与技术。     

Sport activities in daily routine

During the last few years, research interest on interindividual differences in acute affective reactions on sport activities has increased. Moreover, current studies show that besides interindividual differences, substantial intraindividual variations exist. Therefore, we assume that the potential of regulating affective well-being through sport activities varies situationally. This ambulatory assessment study analyzes affective reactions on sport activities in daily routine to identify possible factors for situational variability of changes in affective well-being. First, situational differences in affective well-being (valence, calmness, energetic arousal), goals for sport activities (e.g., regulation of body weight, activation), and activity characteristics (e.g., activity dose, perceived exertion) were analyzed. Second, associations between these parameters and activity characteristics were dissected. Third, associations with affective well-being after sport activities are identified. For 7 days, 25 women and 21 men (M_age = 32 years) participated. Activity characteristics were captured objectively (accelerometer, electrocardiogramm). Affective well-being, situational goals, and perceived exertion were gathered via smartphone. Multilevel analyses confirmed situational heterogeneity of affective well-being (e.g., intraclass-coefficient ICC_valence = 0.48), situational goals (e.g., ICC_activation = 0.59), and activity characteristics (e.g., ICC_{activity dose} = 0.21). Furthermore, we observed that higher feelings of calmness and stronger situational goals for body weight and activation are followed by a higher activity dose. This higher activity dose comes along with higher energetic arousal after sport activities, whereas higher perceived exertion is followed by lower feelings of calmness. Study results confirm intraindividual variation of affective well-being, specific goals, and activity characteristics. They emphasize the relevance of situational characteristics for the regulation of affective well-being through sport activities.     

Self-Narrative Profiles of Elite Athletes and Comparisons on Psychological Well-Being

Further research is needed on factors related to the emotional health of elite athletes. Previous research has linked self-narratives of people or their narrative identities to their psychological well-being. However, no study has yet examined self-narratives among elite athletes. Purpose: This study examined whether specific profiles or narrative identities of athletes emerge through multiple self-narrative indicators; these profiles were compared on measures of psychological well-being (e.g., depression, anxiety, postfailure shame levels, and life satisfaction). Method: Self-report data were collected from a sample of elite athletes (n = 99, Mdn age = 22 years, 52% male, 53% individual sports) competing at a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1, professional, or Olympic level. Results: Latent profile analysis revealed 3 profile types that significantly differed on measures of psychological well-being. Athletes with a performance-based narrative identity (high perfectionism, fear of failure, and contingent self-worth) demonstrated the highest levels of psychological disruptions (highest levels of depression, anxiety, and shame; lowest levels of life satisfaction), whereas a purpose-based narrative identity (high purpose, global self-worth, positive view of self after sport) was associated with the highest level of psychological well-being (lowest levels of depression, anxiety, and shame; highest levels of life satisfaction). Athletes in the mixed-type profile class reported better psychological well-being compared with the performance-based profile class but not the purpose-based profile class. Conclusions: Our findings provide initial evidence that particular self-narrative profiles of elite athletes contribute to their own psychological well-being in a significant way. Possible implications for practitioners are also discussed.     

The role of working memory in sport

The concept of working memory has received a great deal of attention in the last couple of decades and discussions of working memory are now common in almost all branches of psychology, including cognitive, clinical, social, developmental, and educational settings. Therefore, it is surprising that the concept of working memory has received a lot less attention in the field of sport psychology compared to other branches of psychology, especially since research in sport psychology has increasingly incorporated cognitive concepts such as attention, perception and decision-making, which are purported to rely heavily on working memory. Thus, it is essential, in our opinion, to systematically investigate the working memory system in the field of sports, which offers a fruitful domain to explore the validity of models developed in other fields. This review provides an overview of working memory theory and discusses its relevance in sport psychology. We end the review by giving an outlook of potentially fruitful research areas on working memory in sport.     

The antecedents and consequences of positive organizational behavior: The role of psychological capital for promoting employee well-being in sport organizations

A positive approach to addressing mental health issues in workplaces advocates the examination of an untapped resource—psychological capital—as a potential positive construct in contemporary organizational behavior. The authors tested various antecedents and outcomes of psychological capital, and examined the role of this construct in psychological well-being and job satisfaction among sport employees. To test 11 hypotheses, the researchers recruited 708 employees from the athletic departments of Division I institutions. Results indicate that the meaningful work of employees and a supportive organizational climate positively influenced psychological capital, thereby leading to high levels of job satisfaction and psychological well-being. Psychological capital also functioned either as a partial mediator or as a full mediator. In this study, the authors offer a new perspective on sport employees’ mental health outcomes, with particular emphasis on positive organizational behavior in sport settings.     

Collective efficacy in sport: the future from a social neuroscience perspective

In the last decade, collective efficacy has received increasing attention in the sport psychology literature. However, despite considerable focus on the antecedents and consequences of the construct (e.g., Magyar, Feltz, & Simpson, 2004), no research has considered the specific neuropsychological mechanisms that underpin the levels of collective efficacy perceived by individuals within sports teams. In this respect, neuroscience research outside sport psychology has identified cortical structures linked to socio-cognitive thought processes (e.g., Gallese, Keysers, & Rizzolati, 2004). Therefore, the purpose of this review is to provide evidence for potential neurological processes that underpin collective efficacy perceptions. Specifically, we discuss these processes in relation to how collective efficacy is conceptualized, measured, and analyzed. We then discuss pertinent neuroscience research that indicates both imagery and observation based interventions are suitable for increasing individual collective efficacy perceptions. Finally, based on the neuroscience mechanisms discussed, future directions for research are suggested that aim to increase our understanding of the nature and influence of collective efficacy perceptions upon individual and team behavior.     

Goal-directed self-talk used to self-regulate in male basketball competitions

This study examined how goal-directed self-talk may help basketball players to self-regulate in stereotypical competitive situations: seconds before a challenging game, while clearly winning or clearly losing, and at the close of a tight game. Participants were recruited in groups of three to four, until preliminary inspection of the data indicated that data saturation was reached. In the end, 34 basketball players voluntarily took part in individual interviews, writing up to three self-instructions they had used in each of the four competitive situations to self-regulate. Content analyses revealed that self-talk in competitive basketball situations serves cognitive functions (e.g., regulating cognition and behaviour), motivational functions (e.g., promoting mastery goals) and emotion and activation-regulating functions (e.g., creating activated states). More specifically, the results also indicated that athletes’ self-talk may serve functions specific to the psychological demands experienced in each situation. It is argued that knowing how athletes counsel themselves, could prove important for applied sport psychologists to design psychological skill training.     

运动情境中情绪的人际效应：情绪—社会信息模型的新视角

运动情境中情绪的人际效应是运动心理学研究的重要问题。在运动情境中,情绪对运动员的运动表现及其与运动员、教练员、队友、对手等之间的人际互动产生重要的影响。本文主要阐述情绪-社会信息模型,并以此结合相关研究探讨运动情境中情绪人际效应及其在运动领域中的适用性,并对未来研究给予了展望。     

运动归因训练的心理效应（综述）

运动归因的研究,是当前运动心理学的重要课题,已取得相当大的科研成果。 但有意识地运用于体育实践的却很少。本文在总结大量的科研成果的基础上,探讨了 运动归因训练的心理效应,即从实施运动归因训练能有效地影响转化运动员的情绪和 情感,提高对未来的期望,激起其从事运动的成就动机,以及有助于其良好人格的养 成这４个方面,进行了综合性地阐述。并进而对如何进行运动归因训练提出了具体建 议。     

Towards a conceptual understanding of muscle dysmorphia development and sustainment

In recent years muscle dysmorphia has attracted the interests of sport, exercise, and clinical psychologists, researchers, and the popular media. In this article we review muscle dysmorphia literature and propose a framework to advance knowledge about the condition's development and sustainment. Existing research is focused on social variables correlated with muscle dysmorphia (e.g., social support), and cognitions, emotions, and behaviours displayed by individuals with the condition (e.g., exercise dependence and steroid abuse). The proposed framework draws on the extant body image and body dysmorphic disorder literature to address gaps identified in current muscle dysmorphia knowledge. In particular, little attention has been given to mechanisms by which the condition develops and is sustained, and learning theory is proposed as one possibility. In addition to extending muscle dysmorphia knowledge, the framework is offered as a way to stimulate a range of investigations adding to current understanding. The inclusion of learning theory, for example, may provide insights leading to the identification of suitable treatments for people whose health and well-being has been reduced as a result of experiencing muscle dysmorphia.     

运动心理测量研究进展(2008-2011)

对2008-2011年初国内外运动心理测量的研究进行系统的梳理和文献学分析.结果表明:(1)心理测量的方法并不过时,仍是运动心理学研究的主要方法之一;(2)国外学者运用心理测量法研究的比例高于我国学者;(3)新编或新修量表仍以竞技运动心理为主,锻炼心理次之,体育心理较少,我国学者相对更重视体育心理测量工具的研发;(4)国外学者相对更为重视竞技心理的研究,而我国学者更为重视锻炼心理领域的研究;(5)中外心理测量研究的水平相当,量表研究的质量参差不齐.为迸一步提高我国量表研修的质量,提出以下建议:(1)尽力提供更多的信效度参数,努力提升数据的质量;(2)量表研究的理论基础应该加强;(3)充分发挥因子分析的作用,统计参数的表达应更加规范;(4)更多地以积极心理学为导向对心理健康进行测量.     

The interaction of functional and dysfunctional emotions during balance beam performance

The interaction between functional and dysfunctional emotions, as one of the major tenets of the individual zones of optimal functioning (IZOF) model (Hanin, 2000), was studied in a sport specific setting. Fourteen female gymnasts performed three attempts of a compulsory balance beam routine at three different heights. Heart rate and self-report of functional and dysfunctional emotions were measured during each routine. These data revealed the effectiveness of inducting emotions by manipulating height. Also, performance decreased on the most challenging condition, (i.e., the first attempt on the highest height). Moderated hierarchical regression analysis revealed a significant interaction between functional and dysfunctional emotions only when the dysfunctional emotion level was low.